The International Cricket Council (ICC) may crack down on bat sizes on the eve of the World Cup to address the "unfair" balance between bat and ball, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The modern-day bats, which have edges as big as 45 millimetres, "may have shifted the balance a bit too much" in the batsman's favor, ICC's chief executive David Richardson said in an interview just weeks after South Africa's AB de Villiers broke the record for the fastest ODI hundred, his milestone coming in just 31 balls.
"No one begrudges an AB de Villiers, who plays some superb shots," Richardson said in an interview to ESPNCricinfo.
"Him, Brendon McCullum, Kumar Sangakkara, they are exceptionally talented and no one minds if they hit some great shots which go for six. But where some batsmen are mishitting balls and it is just carrying over the rope and going for a six instead of being caught at the boundary, that is what some cricket people believe has become unfair.
Richardson indicated that the some of the changes to playing conditions may come before the World Cup.
"The MCC (World Cricket Committee), as law makers, and the ICC will be looking at giving perhaps some consideration to placing limitations on the depth of a bat in particular."
Richardson said that boundary ropes would be pushed back to at least 90 metres "where possible" at the World Cup.
In May 2008, the ICC banned hi-tech cricket bats which gave an unfair advantage to batsmen, saying the move would help prevent the game becoming too predictable.
Under new rules, bat handles were to be made with cane, wood, twine and rubber. The move followed the development of bats that use materials such as graphite and titanium in their lightweight handles, giving extra power to batsmen, the MCC said then.
But the pending action on bat sizes was misguided, according to manufacturers.
"It's got nothing to do with the bat sizes," said Spartan Sports owner Kunal Sharma, who is Chris Gayle's bat provider. "It's purely because you're using a brand new ball for the first 20 overs. I've got cricket bats here in my business and they're half the size and they ping just as much. Its' only a psychological thing in your mind."
Greg Eime, the brand manager at Gunn & Moore, agreed, saying smaller grounds were a big factor.
"Effectively the game has changed and the way the batsmen play has changed," Eime said.
"It's a combination of a lot of things, even down to the players' physical fitness and strength. To go finger pointing at the bats, I don't think that's quite fair."
Former Australia great Ian Chappell was of another opinion and lay into the ICC administrators over the issue last year.
“I have some sympathy for the bowlers because the administrators are stupid. They’ve only just woken up to the fact that with the bats getting better and the boundaries getting smaller, it is going to be a problem,” Chappell had said.
“That makes them geniuses, doesn’t it? It has only taken them 15 years to figure it out. It is a ridiculous combination. If the bats are going to get better, then you can’t shorten the boundaries. If you’ve got to anything, you should push the boundaries as far back as you possibly can.”
